Just ‘Leaf’ it Over There!

Ever wonder how to grow a tree? Of course! It’s something we’ve all known since we were little tikes — just put a seed in the ground, water it, make sure good ol’ Mr. Sun gets his shine on, and voilà! A tree will grow right before your eyes. However, our research group was amazed by what Ms. Grossman had to say today, that we could grow plants just by placing part of a leaf in the ground. That’s right, just part of a leaf. Or it could be a stem, bud, or root, because all of these are various options that one could use to propagate a plant (that is, to pretty much clone it from one of its previous parts). We even got to see a three-year-old plant that VT’s plant scientists propagated- and all from a tiny leaf! Now you know that whenever you mow the lawn, pick leaves of shrubs, or trim a tree, all those parts could eventually become a new plant under the right conditions!